We are exploring creating new site collections through the SharePoint
object model and also through the SharePoint web services. So far we
have found you can specify the template ID associated with a custom
template installed in the Virtual Server Gallery using the SharePoint
object model. For example, one of our custom templates has an
auto-assigned ID of "_GLOBAL_#0". This ID was assigned when
installing the template using the STSADM utility. We are able to
successfully create a site collection programatically using a custom
template ID. However, is it possible to specify the custom template
name rather than it's ID? In the case where we have multiple web
front-ends for SharePoint, a custom template must be installed on each
front-end, so that they are available to users regardless of what
front-end they access. This poses a problem later because the
auto-assigned template ID's are often different on each front-end.
This makes it tricky to create site collections programatically based
off a custom template ID.

Is it possible to specify the template name (string name) in the
SharePoint object model or using the SharePoint web services? Maybe
there is another approach?